Sound designer/mixer Jody Nazzaro from New York audio house SuperExploder teamed up with Comedy Central to help tell the story of a boy who needs to be more “Southern Fair” if he wants to land the girl of his dreams in a new :60 parody movie trailer Southern Crossed Loversfor Popeyes.

Poor Chester!

In the faux trailer, a young couple meets and falls in love at a country fair, but the girl’s parents disapprove, saying he’s “not Fair enough” for her. They are pushing her toward Chester, the red suspenders-wearing corn dog dipper. In the end, our love-struck hero shows up in a traditional southern suit holding a box of Popeyes Southern Fair tenders and Cajun fries, quickly winning the heart of the girl’s father.

The direction that Nazzaro got from the client was what every artist wants to hear: ”We trust your instincts, go for it. Make it feel like a trailer.”

According to Nazarro, “This project aligned with essentially the new standard of sound design and mixing for broadcast networks. The money isn’t there for ISDNs and phone patches anymore, and most talent records at home with the producer on the phone and sends the VO files via file sharing.”

He received the picture reference as a 1920×180 ProRes QuickTime and an AAF from Adobe Premiere. “Clean production dialogue was sent that I conformed as they cut with the camera mix. Once I prepped the session in Pro Tools, I began to clean up the dialog in Izotope RX5 Advanced and build the ambience tracks,” he explains. “I added some Foley, edited the music and enhanced the dramatic music swell a bit with Omnisphere.”

He mixed the spot in stereo and 5.1, in case they needed it for cinema release — which he says is standard workflow for him now — and sent it off for approval. It was approved on his first mix pass.

“It was a lot of fun working on a non-standard project with a twist — making it feel like a real trailer,” says Nazzaro. “With the audio, I felt like less was more. I wanted to let the voiceover and the dialogue carry it into a comedic misdirection.”